1991: Reckoning and political upheaval

1991 saw past misdeeds come back to haunt those powerful Australians who made them and war breakout in the middle east while a new power rose over Russia…

– First Settlement Memorial Wall constructed on the foreshore near the Redcliffe Jetty

– Redcliffe Peninsula Surf Lifesaving Club is established at Woody Point

– The new marina at the Moreton Bay Boat Club is opened

– The leadership of the Federal Government is rocked by the revelation of the “Kirribilli Agreement”, whereby Prime Minister Bob Hawke made a secret deal to hand over the leadership to Treasurer Paul Keating at an appropriate time after the 1990 election. Four days after the deal is made public, Keating challenges Hawke for the leadership, losing 44-66 in the ballot and resigning to the backbench

– Disgraced former Qld Police Commissioner Terry Lewis is sentenced to 14 years prison for corruption

– Due to a mistrial by hung jury and his advancing age, former Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen escapes prosecution for perjury charges stemming from the Fitzgerald enquiry into corruption. It later emerges that the jury foreman in the trial was a member of the Young Nationals and “Friends of Joh” movements

– After six months on the backbench, Paul Keating launches a second challenge for the Prime Ministership of the country. He narrowly succeeds 56-51 in the vote and is sworn in the next day as Australia’s 24th Prime Minister

– Federal Opposition Leader Dr John Hewson launches his radical new economic policy, Fightback!, which be the centrepiece of his election campaign

– The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper tracks down fugitive businessman Christopher Skase on the Spanish Island of Majorca. Skase continues to elude deportation efforts over the next decade by successive governments

– Pionnering Heart Surgeon Victor Chang is brutally murdered after standing up to two would be extortionists. The pair received lengthy jail terms while Chang’s extraordinary legacy lives on through the Research Institute created in his name. Dr Chang was also named Australian of the Century in 1999

– US Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf leads an international coalition of armed forces into Iraq after Saddam Hussein refuses to withdraw from Kuwait. Iraqi forces are swiftly defeated, however Saddam is allowed to remain in Baghdad. He will stay there until the second Iraq was over ten years later

– Nelson Mandela is elected to lead the African National Congress political party

– The Soviet Union dissolves with Boris Yeltsin becoming the first freely elected leader of the new Russian Republic. Later, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia also break free to independence

– Richard Branson and Pr Lindstrand become the first people to fly a hot air balloon over the Pacific Ocean, with their nonstop flight from Japan to Canada

– Nirvana release their single “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, helping to usher in the Grunge-era of American music

– JFK, The Silence of the Lambs, Thelma and Louise, Terminator 2 and New Jack City are released